My Primary School Memory | Original
This post was written in July 2025.
Source: mmos.com
I graduated from primary school in the summer of 2007. I probably registered my QQ account around 2006. I still remember the place where I registered for QQ: using a computer in the office of the principal of my primary school. The principal’s last name was Huang. His face is still vivid in my mind.
I heard that the vice principal of my primary school has passed away due to some illness. He was a good person. My father brought us from a village in Meizhou to Guangzhou, and the school administration accepted us, including him. We followed some formal procedures, but surely he helped us by guiding us, etc.
We still remember the warmth and kindness of people after many years, and sometimes we still remember the moments when people were angry with us or criticized us.
Along with some classmates from my primary school, I still remember some female classmates; we registered our QQ accounts together. They did it first, and I waited, then it was my turn to register for QQ.
In retrospect, at the moment I had a chance to use the Internet, I already enjoyed a kind of freedom that humans had never had before. The only limitations were your imagination and exploration, your language proficiency, and your reading ability. The Internet gives you freedom.
QQ is probably the first internet service for a lot of people who grew up in China. So they will have quite a good memory of their QQ numbers and use them like passwords on other sites. I used my QQ number for some of those unimportant websites or apps too that don’t involve money.
So why 2006 and not 2007? It is because I remember that in 2007, during my sixth grade, I sometimes went to the internet cafe to enjoy the Internet.
The sun that day was just like it is today in July 2025. This seems to never change. The primary school has become kind of old now, and it has undergone some reconstruction.
I have been back there once or twice at night or on weekends in recent years. I saw the new scenes of the school, while many things or places stand still. Since my schedule is not convenient, I can’t see the teachers.
I don’t know whether I will go back to talk with them. I would like to do so. For most of them, I have lost contact with them. I don’t have their QQ or WeChat accounts. I have the QQ accounts of some of my classmates from primary school, but not the teachers.
I am still making progress in my career and struggling in my life. So not the time, but for personal reasons. If I achieve better success in my life, I would like to come back to visit them.
The teachers who taught me were probably in their early 30s, with kids about 5 years old or just pregnant around that time. So, around twenty years have passed, and they are now in their 40s or 50s.
Life passes quickly. As a primary student, I didn’t have the ability to think about others. I didn’t know the detailed stories of my teachers or their hometowns. I am grateful they dedicated time and effort to us. I probably should be most grateful as I graduated with the ranking number 1 among my classmates.
The ego of early life is important. I don’t have much of a problem with that. I don’t know how I did it. It seemed easy for me. Of course, I learned a lot from my teachers.
One special thing is that I am from a village in Meizhou, while half of my classmates are from Guangzhou. The other half of my classmates are from Hunan, Jiangxi, Hubei, and other cities in Guangdong. The primary school I attended is Xinzhuang Primary School in Huangpu District. At that time, Yonghe Town was a suburban town in Guangzhou. There were many factories around, such as a Pepsi-Cola plant and Bright Dairy & Food, among others.
In my primary school in Meizhou village, I received the first award for three consecutive years. So, I want to maintain that record here in Guangzhou as well. I don’t want to let my parents down, so I need to keep up the good work.
Outsiders often do better—and it’s probably not a coincidence. Another student from my primary school, a girl from Jiangxi, got into Yuyan Middle School, the top middle school in Huangpu District. It’s similar to how people who work hard to come to the U.S. tend to perform better than local Americans. In their hearts, they know there are better places—wealthier and more enlightened—and if they don’t work hard, they might have to return home.
In my primary school in Meizhou, we started studying English from grade 5. However, here, students start studying English from grade 3. I came here to take grade 4, and my English was actually lacking by one year of education.
I cried secretly on the first day when participating in my first classes. But a few classmates around me noticed that. The reason I cried was the vulnerability and discomfort. The teacher and classmates were all new faces to me. I was 9 years old at that time.
In December 2004, there was a tsunami and earthquake in Indonesia. I donated all of my award money to the relief fund for this disaster, initiated by my head teacher, which amounted to 36.5 CNY. That was probably equivalent to one day’s salary for my parents around that time. This award money was earned by me after a semester’s work and winning the first prize in the final exam. That semester was my first semester after I came to Guangzhou. I thought I was very happy at that time, thinking I could catch up soon in the new environment.
About 20 years later, while working as a contractor for a major bank in the summer of 2023, I even met an engineer from Indonesia in the project. And one of my friends came to travel from there, and he gave me an extra Indonesian SIM card. Their country code is +62.
This kind of memory is really good. I hope to recall more.